Cut the fish into chunks, season with soy sauce, then steam for 5 minutes until the meat is fully cooked. If you don’t want to steam the fish, you can cook the fish however you like, as long as you don’t create a browned crispy crust on the fish (poach, bake, even microwave! we just want cooked fish). When done, let the fish cool off so you can handle it more easily.
While the fish is cooking and cooling, make the mango salad: In a mortar, pound Thai chilies until there are no more big chunks (chili skin is fine), then add the palm sugar and mash until it’s a muddy paste. Add fish sauce and lime juice and swirl until the sugar is completely dissolved. Transfer to a bowl, and stir in the dried shrimp, shallots, and mango. Let sit while you fry the fish.
Once the fish is cool enough to handle, transfer it into a muslin-lined bowl. Wrap the cloth around the fish, twist it to secure the fish in the cloth, and squeeze the fish as hard as you can to get rid of as much liquid as possible (this is why you want to let the fish cool, if it’s too warm, you won’t want to squeeze hard!). It is very important that the fish is DRY.
Transfer the fish to a mortar and pestle, then pound it until it’s fluffy and there are no more chunks.
To fry the fish: Heat about 1 – 1.5 inch of oil in a wok or a deep pot over high heat to about 400°F. Do not fill the wok or pot anymore than ⅓ full to be sure we have leave plenty of room for the oil to puff up without overflowing! Tip: It will be easier for you to fold the fish if you use a wider pot or wok for this, so you can get to it more easily and you can fry more fish at a time. For the amount provided in this recipe, you can make 2 batches of fried fish in a pot that is about 9 inches in diameter.
Once the oil reaches temperature, sprinkle about half the fish into the oil, and the oil will bubble aggressively. Use a skimmer to push the edges in to clean up the edges of the fish, then let the fish fry until golden. I like to occasionally push the fish down so the top is submerged, which will help the fish brown more evenly.
Once the fish is golden brown, you can fold the fish over into a half circle like I did, but this is not necessary. Once the bubbling of the fish starts to slow down, and the fish is golden all over, lift it from the oil with a slotted skimmer and shake the fish several times to remove the oil that is lodged inside the fish. Place on paper towel to drain.
Wait for the oil to come back to temperature before frying the remaining fish.
Place the fish on a serving plate and sprinkle with roasted peanuts. Stir chopped cilantro into the mango salad, then serve the mango salad beside the fish. Serve with jasmine rice. Enjoy!
